German Lye Pretzels - Laugenbrezel Bakery Recipe
- 200 ml water (40C)
- 5 g dry yeast
- 100 ml milk
- 5 g salt
- 5 g sugar
- 40 g butter
- 500 g bread flour (strong flour)
- 500 ml water
- 15 g lye
- In a bowl or small pot, put in the 40 g butter, 100 ml milk, and 5 g salt.Heat on low until the butter just melts and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, add 200 ml warm water and 5 g sugar.
- Mix and add 5 g dry yeast.
- Mix well and wait for 10-15 minutes until the yeast bubbles up.
- Add the 500 g flour to a large bowl.
- Make a 'crater' in the middle of the flour and pour in the butter/milk mix.
- Toss some flour over the butter/milk and then pour in the yeast water around the outside of the crater.
- Gradually mix the flour into the liquid with your fingers.
- When the flour starts to absorb some of the liquid, start bringing together the flour with your hands until you can form a ball.
- When you can bring together into a ball, remove from bowl and knead until the dough is smooth - about 10 minutes.
- Return dough to bowl and cover.
- Let rise for 40 minutes in a warm place or until about doubled in size.
- Divide dough into 10 equal pieces (it's about 80 g each if you're weighing).
- Gently roll each piece into a short cylinder/log shape.
- Next, take each dough 'log' and roll out the ends - leave the very center of the 'log' untouched (so it doesn't lose its air) and roll out the right and left sides until long, thing and tapered.
- Twist the long ends around each other and press the tapered tips into the fat part of the pretzel.
- In a medium bowl, put in water first then mix in the lye until the lye is dissolved.
- (Be very careful with lye!
- Make sure your room is ventilated and you're wearing rubber gloves and even consider safety glasses).
- Still wearing your gloves and glasses, grab each pretzel at the top where the tips are pressed into the fat part.
- Dip it into the lye solution, making sure every part gets covered in some liquid.
- Lift out, let drain and arrange onto baking sheets in preparation to bake
- Sprinkle with salt while still wet
- Bake at 240C (no steam) for 15 minutes.
- The pretzels should be nice and dark brown!
- For sandwiches, slice open the fat part of the pretzels and stuff with your favorite fillings - butter, ham, pickles, lettuce, cheese, etc.
- etc.
water, yeast, milk, salt, sugar, butter, lye
Taken from cookpad.com/us/recipes/324645-german-lye-pretzels-laugenbrezel-bakery-recipe (may not work)